Youssou N'Dour: Return to Gorée
Granville 7 Theatre 7
Monday, September 29 2008 9:30pm
Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour has an idea to explore the descendants of African music. From playing with musicians around the world, he hears the similarities in his native Senegalese music with the blues, jazz, Cuban, and Brazilian music. He is interested in how his native Senegalese music would be interpreted by the African music diaspora.
Youssou N'Dour assembles an international cast of musicians to record his new project. With his blind Swiss pianist friend Moncef Genoud, he travels to Atlanta, Georgia and recruits a black gospel vocal group the Harmony Harmoneers.
In New Orleans he rendezvous with his spiritual big brother, drummer Idris Muhammad. We get a little taste of the New Orleans jazz scene as N'Dour jams with his prospective rhythm section at the Snug Harbor jazz club.
It's then on to a New York recording studio where he signs on a French harmonic player, and a young female African-American singer. From there it's off to Luxembourg to round out the band with a guitarist, and a trumpeter.
They finally assemble in a recording studio in N'Dour's home town of Dakar, Senegal. For most of the musicians this is their first visit to Africa so it is important for them to explore and be inspired by Africa. They visit Gorée which was the main port for the slave trade. It is a very poignant experience for the African-American musicians whose ancestors passed through this port. Seeing and hearing the Harmony Harmoneers singing a cappella in the confines of the slave ship passage is a particularly moving moment.
The musical moments are the best part of the film, as the film seems to meander through the various side topics it tries to touch on.
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